County Accuses City of 'Stonewalling' Secession Process

LOS ANGELES-In an unusual twist, the director of the county agency that will ultimately decide whether secession efforts in the San Fernando Valley and Harbor area will ever go before voters has accused LA officials of “stonewalling” the county’s efforts.

Many residents of the Valley and in the Harbor area are trying to break away from the Los Angeles, claiming that they’re being ignored by the LA City Council and aren’t getting their fair-share of services from City Hall. State law requires that before a secession vote can be taken, the county’s nonpartisan Local Agency Formation Commission must first determine that a breakup would not hurt the city’s finances.

But now, LAFCO’s own director is complaining that the commission still hasn’t received all the data it needs from the city to make a decision. As a result of the delay, director Larry Calemine says, a secession measure might not appear on the November 2002 ballot, the date many secession supporters have been hoping for.